It’s been said that “Leadership is not what you do, but who you are.” This, however, is only partially true. Leadership is very much who you are, but it cannot be divorced from what you do. Who you are represents the inner person, and what you do represents the outer person. Each is dependent on the other for maximum effectiveness.
The starting point of motivational leadership is to begin seeing yourself as a role model, an example to others. See yourself as a person who sets the standards others follow. A key characteristic of leaders is that they set high standards of accountability for themselves and their behaviors. They assume that others are watching them and are setting their own standards based on what the leader does. They lead by example, exactly as though someone were following them around, surreptitiously taking notes and photographs of their daily actions for others to see and act on.
Motivational leadership is based on the Law of Indirect Effort. According to this law, most things in life are achieved more easily by indirect means than by direct means. You more easily become a leader to others by demonstrating that you have the qualities of leadership than you do by ordering others to follow your directions. Instead of trying to get people to emulate you, you concentrate on living a life that is so admirable that others want to be like you without your saying a word.
In business, there are several kinds of power. Two of these are ascribed power and position power. Position power is the power that comes with a job title or position in any organization. If you become a manager in a company, you automatically have certain powers and privileges that go with your rank. You can order people about and make certain decisions. You can be a leader whether or not anyone likes you.
Ascribed power is the power you gain because of the kind of person you are. In every organization, there are people who are inordinately influential and looked up to by others, even though their positions may not be high on the organizational chart. These men and women are genuine leaders because of their quality, their character and their personalities.
Perhaps the most powerful of motivational leaders is the person who practices what is called “servant leadership.” Confucius said, “He who would be master must be servant of all.” The person who sees himself or herself as a servant and does everything possible to help others perform at their best is practicing the highest form of servant leadership.
Over the years, we have been led to believe that leaders are those who stride boldly about, exude power and confidence, give orders and make decisions for others to carry out. That’s old school. The leader of today is the one who asks questions, listens carefully, plans diligently and then builds consensus among all those who are necessary to achieve the agreed-upon goals. The leader does not try to do it by himself or herself. The leader gets things done by helping others to do them.
This brings us to five of the qualities of motivational leaders. These are qualities you already have to a certain degree and that you can develop further to stand out from the people around you in a short period of time.
The first quality is vision. This is the one quality that, more than anything, separates leaders from followers. Leaders have vision. Followers do not. Leaders have the ability to stand back and see the big picture. Followers are caught up in day-to-day activities. Leaders have developed the ability to fix their eyes on the horizon and see greater possibilities. Followers’ eyes are fixed on the ground in front of them and are so busy they seldom look at themselves and their activities in a larger context.
George Bernard Shaw summarized this quality of leaders. In the words of one of his characters, “Most men look at what is and ask, ‘Why?’ I instead look at what could be and ask, ‘Why not?’ ”
The best way for you to motivate others is to be motivated yourself. The fastest way to get others excited about a project is to get excited yourself. The way to get others committed to achieving a goal or a result is to be totally committed yourself. The way to build loyalty to your organization, and to other people, is to be an example of loyalty in everything you say and do. These all are applications of the Law of Indirect Effort. They very neatly tie in to the quality of vision.
One requirement of leadership is the ability to choose an area of excellence. Just as a good general chooses the terrain on which to do battle, an excellent leader chooses the area in which he and others are going to do an outstanding job. The commitment to excellence is one of the most powerful of all motivators. All leaders who change people and organizations are enthusiastic about achieving excellence in a particular area.
The most motivational vision you can have for yourself and others is to “Be the best!” Many people don’t yet realize that excellent performance in serving other people is an absolute, basic essential for survival in the economy of the future. Many individuals and companies still adhere to the idea that as long as they are no worse than anyone else, they can remain in business. That’s just plain silly! It’s prehistoric thinking. We’re now in the age of excellence. Customers assume that they will get excellent quality and, if they don’t, they’ll go to your competitors.
As a leader, your job is to be excellent at what you do, to be the best in your chosen field of endeavor. Your job is to have a vision of high standards in serving people. You not only exemplify excellence in your own behavior, you also translate it to others so that they, too, become committed to this vision.
This is the key to servant leadership. It is the commitment to doing work of the highest quality in the service of other people, both inside and outside the organization. Leadership today requires an equal focus on the people who must do the job, on the one hand, and the people who are expected to benefit from the job, on the other.
The second quality, which is perhaps the single most respected quality of leaders, is integrity. Integrity is complete, unflinching honesty in everything you say and do. Integrity underlies all the other qualities. Your measure of integrity is determined by how honest you are in the critical areas of your life.
Integrity means this: When someone asks you at the end of the day, “Did you do your very best?” you can look him in the eye and say, “Yes!” Integrity means this: When someone asks you if you could have done it better, you can honestly say, “No, I did everything I possibly could.”
Integrity means that you, as a leader, admit your shortcomings. It means that you work to develop your strengths and compensate for your weaknesses. Integrity means that you tell the truth, and that you live the truth in everything you do and in all your relationships. Integrity means that you deal straightforwardly with people and situations, and that you do not compromise what you believe to be true.
If the first two qualities of motivational leadership are vision and integrity, the third quality is the one that backs them both up. It’s courage. It’s the chief distinguishing characteristic of the true leader. It’s almost always visible in the leader’s words and actions. It is absolutely indispensable to success, happiness and the ability to motivate other people to be the best they can be.
Next week, I will cover the final two qualities of motivational leaders as well as other tips to gain the motivational and leadership skills you strive to have.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 at 12:23 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.One Response to “Leading and Motivating: Part I”
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June 21st, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Thanks Mr. Tracy,
I was released a few months ago from prison after 27 years of incarceration. I have had enormous struggles finding my way in the real world. Having only recently found some of your books in the library, I am very excited to see the changes in me and how I am beginning to grow and make an impact at work. I am developing social skills that I could not begin to understand in prison and feel I will be promoted very soon at work.(It must mean something when one of the senior vice-presidents gives you a ride home from work after a fourteen hour day!)
So thanks for all you have instilled in me.
Sincerely,
Barry Babcock